Friday evening, several parents were scattered about the park surrounding the Pelham Gazebo as their children played—some with a large bouncy ball, a few others with a jump rope swung by some fathers—their presence a reminder of other children, those who had been taken from their parents when families tried to cross the border.

The purpose of this small, impromptu gathering was to collect money to buy blankets for the children who had been incarcerated under President Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy. Stella Winter and Dakota Shanley—rising sixth graders who just moved up from Prospect Hill School—began organizing the event on Wednesday night.

“I woke up one night after my mom told me what was happening to those kids, and I saw a picture of them sleeping with tin foil blankets, and those kids, like me, deserve to sleep under a real blanket,” said Winter. She told her mom what she wanted to do and began recruiting her friends and telling people.

The young organizers prepared a short speech, after which they were joined by a few other children in singing “America the Beautiful.” The text of their speeches follow:

“Thank you all for coming tonight! We would like to introduce ourselves.

“Hi! My name is Stella Winter. I am eleven years old and just finished fifth grade today. I saw the pictures of the refugee children without their parents, and I wanted to help them.

“They are kids just like us. I know that there are over 200 of them in New York right now. The difference between us and the immigrant children is that those kids are scared and uncomfortable.”

“And my name is Dakota Shanley. I’m ten years old and I’m going into sixth grade. Like Stella, when I heard that these children were separated from their families, I wanted to help.

“Our mission is to raise enough money to buy 100 blankets for children who are just like us, being sheltered near us.

“We saw a problem that needed to be fixed. Right now, these children are not with their families and are using tin foil blankets. We are using the money that you donate to buy ‘positivity’ blankets with powerful messages on them. Even if the child cannot read, they will interpret the message on the blanket from the pictures.

“These children, like us, deserve to sleep under warm, fuzzy blankets.

“Please donate!

“We hope that by the end of the night, we will have enough money to buy 100 blankets.

“Thank you for coming out tonight! Thank you for supporting us!”